All for All

Civic involvement has driven social progress in our country since the
days of the American Revolution. The first words of the U.S.
Constitution are "We, the People." Citizens have banded together to
abolish slavery, expand suffrage, end segregation, protect the
environment, enhance economic opportunity, and accomplish other worthy
social goals. In education, they have transformed schooling from a
privilege granted only to a fortunate few to a right guaranteed for
all.

Today, however, public education may be losing some of this sense of
active community participation. When schools try to include "the
public," they typically target only parents. This may have made sense
in a world where most families had children in school. But it no longer
fits an America where education is the top political and social concern
even among the 69 percent of the population without school-age
children. Nor does it match the reality of today's busy families.

We need to restore the school to its central place at the heart of
communities' civic life by inviting in everyone—parents, yes, but
also retirees, "empty nesters," childless couples, singles, and others
who may have been excluded from school activities in the past. We need
to turn these citizens' strong concern about the quality of education
into powerful involvement in the schools. We need to offer them
more-creative opportunities to contribute and provide them with new
structures for meaningful and satisfying involvement.

A civic-involvement campaign for the schools is more of an essential
today than a luxury, because the needs of children and schools have
changed dramatically. Children from single-parent homes and families in
which both parents work need after-school activities, job-preparation
programs, and adult role models. Schools need support—both human
and financial—for their efforts to reduce class sizes, promote
excellence in teaching, and give all students the ability to reach high
standards. This level of contribution will require more than the
occasional bake sale to raise money for extra programs like sports and
music. We will need to put the power of all members of the public
behind all students in new ways.

The public is willing. Americans understand the importance of
schools to their communities and are ready to become more active in
helping the schools make necessary improvements. In a national poll
conducted for the Public Education Network by Peter D. Hart Research,
nine out of 10 Americans expressed their belief that the quality of
their communities depends on the quality of public schools. And
virtually all (97 percent) said it was "very" or "extremely important"
to have good public schools in their communities.

This is not just abstract support. The survey's results show that
the public is an untapped reservoir of potential school activists and
political support. Two-thirds of the respondents said they had visited
a school at least once in the past two years, and more than seven out
of 10 said that they try to stay informed about local school issues.
Over a third said they would be willing to volunteer time to support
the schools. To convert this interest into active engagement, however,
will require that the education community change how it encourages and
mobilizes citizen efforts.

The 48 local education funds that are part of the Public Education
Network represent one proven method for channeling citizen concerns
about schools. Working in 26 states and the District of Columbia, these
funds are connecting people who want to be involved with problems that
they can help to solve.

In New York City, for example, the group New Visions for Public
Schools is tapping the talents of young business professionals, who
share their test-taking insights with students. Senior citizens are
being mobilized to help out in school libraries. And more than a
thousand New Yorkers responded to New Visions' 16,000 queries about
willingness to be involved in starting smaller schools. The result:
nearly 40 new schools that are succeeding with some of the city's most
disadvantaged students.

In Oregon, the Portland Public School Foundation has mobilized an
army of parent and teacher volunteers to pressure lawmakers on school
issues. Some 30,000 gathered recently to ask legislators not to cut
state spending on public schools. The foundation also is helping
citizens become involved in efforts to boost teachers' professional
learning, close the achievement gap, and establish better systems for
measuring student academic performance.

Other local education funds are addressing racial issues, advancing
literacy programs, raising awareness of the role teacher quality plays
in learning, increasing students' access to technology, and organizing
volunteer undertakings. They have a track record of serving as
community agents for change.

They create new ways for educators to involve a broader segment of
the population by acting as informed advocates and explaining the
different avenues for involvement available to fit into busy schedules.
Research on volunteers indicates that people today are less willing to
join organizations and to commit themselves to regular meetings, but
they still want to help. This is shown in the success of NetDay and
other one-shot volunteer efforts. When someone leads the way and
organizes tasks, results usually follow.

Americans also want to do more than just raise funds for others to
spend. They want to provide strategic interventions that actually make
a difference for specific children. They want to invest their time in
personally satisfying volunteer efforts that will yield real,
measurable improvement. While some say they are willing to raise money
and participate in political activities, others prefer a more hands-on
role, such as volunteering time to repair school buildings or serving
as a tutor.

Our research also reveals that, although nonparents want to become
involved in helping education, they do not know what they can do. These
potential advocates and volunteers feel shut out of public
schools—intimidated by the system, unwanted by educators, and
afraid of having their motives misinterpreted. Schools can encourage
their involvement by creating more programs and volunteer opportunities
late in the day and over weekends, when they have more free time to
spare. Those with limited English skills could be encouraged, for
example, to serve as "bilingual" volunteers or to participate in
programs that expand teachers' knowledge of different cultures.

By hosting special events to reach out to those in the community who
do not have children, schools can build awareness of the important role
that the institution of school plays in the life of the community.
Schools need to open themselves, creating more opportunities for people
to visit and more reasons for them to feel invested in the school's
success.

The polling data indicate that citizens need better information
about what is happening in schools. This is particularly true of the
minority population. Minority parents are twice as likely not to be
contacted by their schools about volunteering as white parents.
Hispanics and minority women, in particular, need more information
about how they can get involved in local schools.

Americans recognize that public schools cannot complete their
mission by themselves. More than three out of four of those questioned
for our survey agree that we cannot rely solely on school officials or
government resources to do what is needed to improve public education.
They strongly prefer community-based solutions to problems over simply
providing more money to schools (or channeling public funds to private
institutions). When given a way to participate on their own terms,
without rigid commitments of time, a broad spectrum of Americans say
they are willing to help.

Without such a collective sense of purpose and involvement, our
public schools will not survive. That is why, at this moment of
unusually widespread public interest in the quality of education,
schools must reach beyond their traditional audience of parents and
forge stronger, more substantive links to all members of their
communities. They must underscore the public in public schools.

Wendy D. Puriefoy is the president of the Washington-based
Public Education Network,
a national organization of local education funds working to ensure the
availability of a high-quality public education for all
children.

Wendy D. Puriefoy is the president of the Washington-based Public Education Network, a
national organization of local education funds working to ensure the
availability of a high-quality public education for all children.

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